Remember will.i.am's PULS wearable? It debuted to much fanfare in October but, despite tremendous promise, has yet to hit the streets. Today, will.i.am and Gucci announced a development partnership to "create an innovative wearable device concept." The PULS is a lovely and innovative device -- it operates untethered and uses an interesting and internally developed UI -- … [Read more...]
will.i.am Demos the PULS on The Tonight Show
Demoing your about-to-be-released product on a top-rated television show ranks way up there on the scale of bad-ass things to do. The first rule of product demos is this: they never go right, and the higher the stakes, the more likely a catastrophic failure. (This is why the iPhone engineers went out and got drunk for a week after the not-nearly-ready phone was unveiled and … [Read more...]
Samsung Gear S Comes to US Next Week
Samsung's Tizen-based Gear S smartband starts shipping to the US on November 7, the company announced today. The device looks and acts more than a little like will.i.am's PULS cuff, but not as slick: two inches wide with a curved Super AMOLED touch screen and built-in SIM card so it can stand alone without being tethered to a phone. Fitness tracking is done with a Nike+ app … [Read more...]
Why the Puls Is Impressive: An Analysis
In the normal course of business, most product launches are one-day stories. Two days, tops, if they're really big and they're not from Apple or (sometimes) Google. In truth, that's fine; it's the rare product that deserves more. Will.i.am's Puls wristware deserves more, because the thinking behind it is so uncommon. First of all, the Puls cuff is unapologetically … [Read more...]